Conclusion
by Aladailey
Summary: Every tale has one. [oneshot, hslo]


**Author's Note: **Hey, all. For the DoaS readers, I apologize for not updating -- I will by this weekend, school has just been overly hectic with finals this week. :) And, concerning this story, I'm not quite sure on how much I like it. I tried to convey mostly everything through dialogue, as is apparent, but I don't like how quickly it moves, sorta. Anyways, I liked it enough to put it up here, so review. :)

* * *

"Hey, Princess."

"What do you want?"

"Nothin'." He sat, noisily bringing another chair closer and propping his feet on it. "I'm bored. There's nothing to do."

"Don't you have to fix your ship?"

"Always."

"Then do _that_."

"Can't. Waiting for the new stabilizers."

"Surely your ship has something else wrong with it."

"Probably."

She could tell that he asn't going to give up. "Go bother Luke."

"But this is so much funner."

Instantly, she rounded on him in a tirade. "_Listen_, you low-life _nerf_ - first, it's 'more fun', meathead, and second - "

"Hey!" he sounded offended, but it was betrayed by amusement glinting his his eyes. "Calm down, beautiful."

"_I_ have to work," - her cheeks were steadily pinkening - "I have a _job_ and _commitments_ and a _revolution_ to organize. I'm. Busy."

"Relax, your highness. Damn, this little rebellion thing is gonna be the death of you."

She turned away, starting back to work. "I've realized, Captain."

"High blood pressure can really kill a human. Coupled with near-starvation, it could be - "'

- And she whirled back around. "I don't have high blood pressure!"

"Then why're you so red in the face?"

The girl's mouth opened and closed, at a loss for words, as she fought to control her blush.

"... Go away."

He laughed. "You know," he started, ignoring her. "If somethin' like that ever happened to me - lyin' all pathetic-like, killed from a heart attack - promise you'll shoot by body repeatedly, so at least it _looks_ like my death was sorta cool?"

"It'll be my pleasure," she forced out through gritted teeth.

* * *

"Hey, Princess."

She sighed warily. "What do you want?"

"Just wonderin' if you were doin' anythin'."

"I'm not."

"I can see. So. Do you _wanna_ do anythin'?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"I told you to stop doing that."

Sitting down, he started to laugh. "Sorry. But when you're bored, the mind wanders."

"No it doesn't."

"Mine does."

"Apparently."

"Hey, can't blame me. I loved it when - "

"Stop it." The color rose in her cheeks.

"Stop what?" He raised his eyebrows as if he were clueless. "You don't want to die... lonely, do you?" Another grin.

"What are you implying?"

"You're smart. Figure it out."

"Good gods! I've survived worse situations, I won't die a v- " she stopped abruptly, glaring at him coldly.

"Worse situations?" he repeated. "Stuck in an asteroid with the whole Imp fleet after us -- and no hyperdrive?"

No answer. She just continue to glare.

"Aw, c'mon sweetheart. I didn't mean it, don't look so cold."

"I'm not," she lied -- coldly.

"I can feel the ice from here. You're freezing the wiring," he quipped, grinning wickedly. The young woman rolled her eyes, then turned away from him crossly.

"Don't look at me like that."

No answer.

With s sigh, he tood and crossed the room to the holotable where she sat.

"Y'know," he started, his voice serious as he settled next to her. She scooted away. "When ya kiss someone, that usuallly 'mplies that you like 'im." He watched the side of her cheek deepen in color - from anger, embarassment, or both, he couldn't say. "Unless it was diff'rent on Alderaan..."

"It wasn't," she snapped.

"Well, ain't that int'resting?" he drawled.

"How so."

He answered her with a grin that she didn't hear or see. Reflexively, she turned her face to peer at him, and her lips were instantly stolen in a kiss.

She pushed him away, frowning disapprovingly at his bewildered face. Then, putting both hands on either cheek, she pulled his lips down to hers, not missing the look of delight on his features.

After a while, they broke apart; each person's breathging was slightly heavier than before.

Finally, she spoke.

"I like ending it on our own terms like that."

"Damn robot," he agreed.

* * *

"Hey - Princess," came his croak.

The woman immediately leaned over him, brown eyes alighted with concern and defeat. Her hair was streaked with silver strands that fell past her battered shoulder.

"What is it?"

"We dead yet?"

"Not quite."

"Sure?"

"Yes."

He groaned, shifting with a wince on the huge tree he was leaning against. His legs lay, uselessly, before him.

She sighed out the sharp aroma of charred metal that was once the _Millenium Falcon_.

"Can you just shoot me now?"

"Luke's coming, and my blaster's out of power."

"Luke won't be here for another day, so use mine."

"Yours is, too."

"Since when?"

"Since an hour ago, when the last one came."

"Ah. I remember," he grumbled, flinching.

She gave a sad smile.

"You don't think we're going to survive, do you."

"Sweetheart," he started with a heavy sigh, painfully lifting his arm to wipe some of the sweat and jungle humidity away from his dirty brow. "We were lucky - or unlucky, however ya wanna see it - 'nough to survive the crash. Now we're broken and the jungle is hungry. Ya don' even hafta _tell_ me the odds to lemme know we're not escapin' this one."

"Luke's coming."

"So are those _things_."

She nodded, then leaned her head against his good shoulder, flinching as his elbow nudged her ribcage. She peered her unchanging brown eyes up at him, taking in the cut on his cheek, the crooked nose and scarred chin, the hazel eyes now closed, the greying light brown hair. Reaching up with her unbroken arm, she ruffled it. A smile turned his bleeding lips up at one corner.

"Scruffy just for you, beautiful."

"Naturally," she murmured quietly, hearing distant leaves, twigs, and vines crack and break. "They're coming."

"I can hear fine, Princess."

"I'm glad."

Slowly, she sat herself up, biting back a cry of pain.

"Don't have a heart attack when ya see 'em," he mumbled.

She was confused for a moment, then smiled. "Sorry I can't shoot you," she returned.

He let out a disdainful snort, a mockery of a laugh, and opened his eyes. Reaching up, he hooked a hand behind her neck and crushed their lips together in a desperate last kiss.

Running her fingers through his hair, she frantically searched his lips, memorizing the feel of his mouth just as she heard the loud and frequent snapping of something large running at them within the clearing.

They broke their own kiss just before their worlds darkened.

_A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... a story ended. _


End file.
